$5 Million Bounty for Joseph Kony Announced by US (VIDEO)

A $5 million bounty has been put up by the Obama administration on Wednesday for information leading to the capture of Lord's Resistance Army chief Joseph Kony, as well as two of his top aides, and a Rwandan rebel suspected of crimes against humanity.

(Photo: Reuters/Africa24 Media)

Lord Resistance Army's Major General Joseph Kony, in this exclusive image, at peace negotiations between the LRA and Ugandan religious and cultural leaders in Ri-Kwangba, southern Sudan, November 30, 2008.

The announcement was made on Wednesday by the U.S. State Department, and has been made under provisions in the War Crimes Rewards Program, which was signed into law by President Barack Obama in January.

The new provisions in the Program have reportedly expanded the so-called rewards program, allowing bounties to be put up for the capture of war criminals.

Previously rewards were only allowed to be offered for war crimes suspects sought after by international criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia.

However, under the newly implemented provisions, bounties can now be put up for those wanted by the International Criminal Court and other international tribunals.

Kony has been accused of ordering and overseeing numerous and widespread atrocities in his bloody campaign for power that originated in Uganda in the 1980s.

Kony is wanted by the International Criminal Court, and is thought to be hiding in the Central African Republic.

An international manhunt was previously being conducted to find him, which was being led by African troops. However, those efforts had proven unsuccessful and the manhunt had been suspended due to lack of cooperation from the country's new leaders, following the turbulent overthrowing of the country's government recently.

The new rewards have been put up not only for Kony himself, but also for his lieutenants, Okot Odhiambo and Dominic Ongwen.

A fourth person has been named in the bounty; the leader of the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda, Sylvestre Mudacumura.